How I Revise
Disclaimer: As with all writing advice, do what works for you, not what you wish worked for you or what works for someone else. If application of this advice causes distress, skin irritation, or uncontrollable sobbing, please discontinue use immediately.
Writing queries is important. Having a good concept is important. Natural talent is nice. But the most important tool you have is revision. And it’s a refining fire, even if you enjoy it. Nothing makes a writer break out in a cold sweat like an email from your critique partner with a few hefty block paragraphs of comments. Or, if you’re lucky, the absolutely panic-inducing prospect of an R&R with notes from an agent who is putting you to the test.
So I’m here for you. I’ve revised for beta-readers, critique partners, as an unofficial PitchWars Mentee, did several R&Rs for agents, and then worked with my lovely agent, Adria, to wrap up my first book. And if it sells, guess what? MORE REVISIONS! So it is really, really, really nice to have a method to the madness. No wait, it’s necessary. And the best, most wonderful thing you can do for yourself is to break your revision down into a series of accomplishable goals. Otherwise you’ll run in circles.
STEP ONE – Walk Away
You’ve just opened your email and there’s a fat little unread message in your inbox with (OHNO) a huge wall of meandering text alternating between gushing praise and commentary and thoughts and there’s an attached word doc with comments in the margins and oh ACK oh ACK. You race through it, wringing your hands, searching for the nuggets of praise.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO FIX THE PROBLEMS. Send your CP a grateful email, and walk away.
Take a week. Take two. Ruminate on the advice. This time is not wasted. It’s fertile ground. Your subconscious will work on the problems. You’ll find yourself thinking of a scene here, a line there, to address the character development or the plot hole or the worldbuilding. Jot them down. Collect your post-its in a safe place. Hold off.
STEP TWO – Table Of Contents
If you absolutely must do something, make yourself a table of contents for your manuscript. I change all my chapter headings into ‘Headings’ in Word, which means that I can review them on a handy toolbar to the left of my document, hopping around as needed. I also make myself a separate document, an official table of contents, with a quick rundown of each scene in the chapter. It makes it so much easier to find your way around your manuscript as you’re fixing storylines and character arcs, or moving scenes around. I like to print out a physical reference version. (Let’s see if you can guess which novel I’m using as a model).
STEP THREE – Make A Revision Checklist
This isn’t as involved as it sounds. But it’s especially helpful if you’re getting feedback from multiple critique partners or agents. I copy and paste the feedback into a fresh word doc, then distill the paragraphs into short directives. Do two people have a problem with a Character A’s backstory? Make a heading (Character A’s backstory), and bullet-point the objections. Is your worldbuilding thin and readers have questions? Worldbuilding heading, bullet point the questions. You need to set clear, attainable goals, the kind you can check off one by one.
STEP FOUR – Pair Chapters And Objectives
Whether you choose to move through your revision by objective or by chapter chronologically, this is a helpful step. Grab your Table of Contents. Grab your Revision Checklist. Now, assess each bullet point and determine which chapters are affected by each one. Most of the time this is remarkably encouraging. Once I had to kill off a beloved character who had previously lived to the end of the book. Can you imagine skimming through my entire manuscript, trying to weed him out?
With my table of contents, I was able to make a shortlist of chapters he appeared in, then only address those. This step also gives you a much better idea of the scope of what you’re trying to accomplish.
STEP FIVE – Give Yourself A Deadline
Now that you have a good idea of which chapters need the most work, and how long each bulletpoint should take, you should have an estimate of how much time you need to finish. I like to break down my revision into weekly chunks, whether it’s doing three chapters a day, or fixing Character A’s arc in Week 1, etc.
If you’re doing an R&R a deadline is especially important, but even if it’s just for yourself, you’re more likely to keep a good pace if you have goals. But *don’t* set unrealistic goals. Don’t set yourself up to fall behind and then feel guilty and then despair and just give up. I like to give myself room for off days and life in general, so I plan on working 4-5 nights per week. If I get done faster, even better. Be kind with your schedule. You work for yourself. Be a good boss.
So here’s what my final checklist usually looks like: I give each planned week’s work a colored square, then do one color per week. So Week One I would do all the objectives with a yellow square. Week Two pink square, and so on. And yikes, forgive my Paint Skills.
Step six – Celebrate When You’re Done
Thank goodness you’ve got a checklist, because if you’re like me, you’ll never actually feel like your revision is finished and your manuscript is ready. But that checklist, with all those ticked boxes, all those notes you’ve incorporated, and all those hours you’ve spent, is tangible proof that you’ve levelled up and have something concretely BETTER than you had before. So celebrate. Bask in your accomplishment. Reserve some fun reading at the library, grab some ice cream for tonight, and make some weekend plans because you’re done!
*until your next revision*
A Last Note:
Hopefully I can blog about how to find critique partners sometime, but if you’re having trouble with that, don’t despair. There are plenty of great craft books that will make you aware of the issues with your manuscript. If you’re feeling especially strong, check out the Donald Maass workbook. Another good read is Writing Irresistible Kidlit by Mary Kole. Happy Revising!